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8 March 2005 Steering Committee Present: Dawn Pedro, Nancy Elkington, Holly Boyce, Cecilia McGuire, John Fedor, David Cunningham. Reviewed draft letter to VLT and UVM regarding budget. One change made. Agreed to send letter by consensus. Copy of letter is attached to the end of these minutes. Discussion about Videos of events. Discussion about Brian and Phil coming to next PLACE event. We want talking points and/or script of the 4th PLACE Program event BEFORE the event. What will Brian and Phil do for us? Reviewed 7 points from 16 February 2005 minutes. We need to have information about what will be presented in the 4th PLACE event by Brian, Phil and Claire. We want a VERY CLEAR picture of what they will do during duration of project. Cecilia said, “we want to know, not because we don’t trust them, but because our patooties are on the line as community representatives of this project.” Phil and Brian do not understand the contentiousness of the word conservation in our community. The Steering Committee feels strongly that the Conservation Fair will both present info and continue to gather public opinion about Benson’s future. Date for next meeting changed from 17 March to 22 March 2005 at 6PM location of meeting to be decided most likely at a Steering Committee member’s home. Agenda for next meeting:
Send Brian & Phil a reminder email about the promised information regarding their proposal for a Big Public Meeting. Idea for future event in Benson: “Benson tells its Ghost Stories” Respectfully submitted, John Fedor ATTACHMENT: Letter to UVM & VLT regarding budget
Benson: Past, Present & Future 2 March 2005 Gil Livingston Walter Poleman Dear Gil & Walter, The Steering Committee would like to respectfully request that you reconsider the decision about the funding of Benson: Past, Present & Future. After requests from the Steering Committee, Brian Shupe revealed that the budget for community engagement techniques and products for Benson: Past, Present & Future was $500 at the 16 February 2005 Steering Committee meeting. Brian and Phil also explained that this money was being made available to the project by the Project Team personally. Brian told us that he, Phil and Claire were contributing money that was allotted for their mileage reimbursement to make these funds available. The Steering Committee does not feel that it is appropriate for the Project Team to contribute funds for community engagement techniques and products from their own pockets. We also feel that it is not appropriate for the Town of Benson or the Steering Committee members to pay for these things. When the project was initially presented, you both indicated that it would be at no cost to the Town and implied that a grant would pay for these kinds of expenses. On 24 February 2005, the Steering Committee met without the Project Team, and discussed the $500 available for the project. At this meeting, we reviewed the project plan and determined that $500 was insufficient. The single most important community engagement technique (the town-wide mailed questionnaire) can not be accomplished on this budget. The Steering Committee has worked very hard developing community engagement techniques. We are very excited about this project. But we are worried about the lack of appropriate funding. We decided to write this letter to you to ask that you reconsider your decision and allocate a modest, but increased, level of funding to support the implementation of this project. We believe that this project, as laid out in our plan, will contribute to a genuine discussion of Benson’s natural and cultural history and of Benson’s future. We believe that we can and will identify a community vision (or visions) for Benson’s future. The Steering Committee went over the list of products and engagement techniques to identify an estimate of the absolute minimum amount of money necessary to accomplish this project. Here is the minimum budget that we came up with:
This totals $2,255 not including the cost of mapping which is one of the most important products. We did not include the cost of mapping because Brian suggested that the Vermont Land Trust and the University of Vermont could provide map layers and mapping services for free. We believe this budget is the absolute minimum possible to accomplish the project. We chose not to include typical expenses like refreshments for meetings and events, rent on the town facilities that are used, etc. The Steering Committee has and is volunteering a significant amount of their time and resources. Many Steering Committee members have reached into their own pockets to fund mailings and display boards already. And the Town has paid for postage for a town-wide mailing and has announced news of this project in Benson’s monthly newsletter. For this project to succeed, we clearly need more than a total of $500. The Steering Committee is respectfully requesting that you consider funding the budget as itemized above. Support of $2,255 would enable the Steering Committee to deliver the results and products that we all have agreed are important for the overall project. Without this support, it will not be possible to achieve the results that we have all envisioned for this effort. If these funds are not available, then we will need to have a serious discussion about what is realistic in terms of the overall goals and deliverables for the project. Also at the 24 February 2005 Steering Committee meeting, mapping was discussed. Assuming VLT and UVM are still willing to provide map layers and mapping services, the Steering Committee would like to know what layers are available. We have identified layers that we would like to have for this project. We would also like to have these layers printed on transparent overlays of 24” X 36” dimensions for our use in meetings in addition to having them available electronically for projection on a screen during larger events. The following are the base and transparent layers we have discussed. It would be very useful to us if you could identify which of these are available. Base Map:
Transparent Overlays:
If VLT and/or UVM provide mapping services, it is expected that the Steering Committee will do the necessary analyses and make decisions regarding what is shown on the map layers. If these mapping services cannot be provided by VLT and/or UVM, then this will have significant implications on the budget outlined above as well as on our ability to meet the goals of the project. For more information about the project and its goals, products and engagement techniques, please look at our website: www.BPPF.org The Steering Committee anxiously awaits your response. If you have any questions, you may contact Whit Humphreys, the chairperson of the Steering Committee, at 537-2864.
Sincerely yours, Benson Steering Committee
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